DEREVO lived through 2016 surprisingly happy!
A feeling of health and an empty head
and as a consequence ― a big smile!

‘La Divina’ and ‘Reflection’ have returned
‘Wolfhound Age’ in Moscow
Filming work, travelling in India and Spain
And so much more

A lovely December in Dresden ― the premiere of a new play by DEREVO:
‘Last Clown on Earth’ by Anton Adasinsky
Premiere of the duet by Makhina Dzhuraeva and Alexey Popov ― MORE
The DEREVO action with Pavel Semchenko (AKHE) ― ‘Moonless’

To name a despot as despot was always dangerous.
Nowadays it’s just as dangerous to name slaves as slaves.R. Akutagawa
A Pygmy’s Proverbs (from the Russian translation by N. Feldman)

So…
We did itWolfhound Age
Without quotes
And the most powerful moment - meeting with the students from the Territory Festival workshops.
We sat in silence.
And I realised that it was possible
I could do it without abstraction and metaphysics
To say exactly:
Yes!
It was like that!
And it will be again - if you’ll believe what they spin about the history of the country.
And it will be again - while the minister of culture opens monuments to murderers.
And it will be again - while the country wanks and has an orgasm over the slogan “Might is Right”,
And there’s no control of drugs and thieves,
And somebody dares to publish the “Four Stout Hearts” and that putrid list of pseudo-cultural values keeps growing…
And it will be again - while sabre-toothed Cossacks spread their booze-breathed gabble, breaking into a theatre like it’s a field bog-house,
While quasi-orthodox thugs smash exhibitions and sponsor pickets and vandalism.

And it will be again.
And you’ll get up early in the morning, and will huddle with your ear to the door,
and listen as they drag someone down the stairs.
And I don’t want to imagine for how many years you will dream of the child crying in that apartment.

My dear young people!
With us, everything is clear. Bearded creators. Licking each other, rejoicing in mutual understanding.
That public letter was a first warning -
Some signed it, some didn’t
We forget such things.

A week passed - my dreams haven’t changed
Endless celebrating faces, colourful flyers on the ground, the city covered with thousands
of posters, all the shows, performances, concerts…
We’ve barely left and we want to come back again
To go out in the street and look around, proudly thinking: there’s more of us, actors, here
than of you, visitors.

We played 24 shows in 26 days

What happened:
Makhina debuted in the role of Oleg
Alexey Popov debuted as Cupid
Never sleeping, Merkushev drove his standard 5000 km
People came who saw ONCE… 20 years ago
People came who had never seen ONCE… the children of those first ones

David ran onto the stage for the first time

What didn’t happen:
Guiness beer (god knows why)
A visit to ‘Sharmanka’ (what a shame)
Any quarrels coming from exhaustion (surprising for the Fringe)

I think a hamster running in a wheel must be happy!
His road never ends.

I’ve started rehearsals of the new project dedicated to Osip Mandelstam at the Gogol Centre in Moscow.
Chulpan Khamatova ― the Soul
I ― the Chitin of a Poet
and eight of the coolest guys from Kirill Serebrennikov’s troupe. We have already worked together in “Who Is Happy In Russia”.

Made the first photo proofs for my solo work “The Well-Tempered Clavier”. My knowledge of Uber-Marionette theory will be put to a full use here.
Lena Yarovaya did 12 solo performances at the medieval fair in Dresden.

We’re going to Edinburgh! What for? I do not know. No. I know.
There, in Edinburgh, we’re at home, on the street every second person - an artist, and the bartenders are not versed in art worse than the pros from the Scotsman or Herald.
Why are we bringing ONCE… ?
It’s more complicated to answer.
Four years we’re searching for fun for our kids ― a task more and more difficult.
A serious and troubled world doesn’t do much for children.
Hard times.
And you can’t go far with cartoons from the 50s and 60s.
And I want to take them to the theatre, a fairy-tale. Splendid and rich…
And even more, I MYSELF want to go to a good film. And that takes a long time to find.

Although “good” ― it’s not the right word. Well… at least I don’t want any morals: children are smarter than adults; drinking is bad; insects are aliens (or vice versa); Galápagos giant tortoises sacrifice themselves to stop evolution…

From the first line, the first picture, the first sound, I know whether they will eat a piece of my life… or… suddenly the heart beats stronger, the sparks run around my fingers and someone’s soul embraces my face like an oxygen mask. I, after all, like everyone else, I guess, someday everything will be fine. And I have to believe that in these hidden dreams I am not alone.

“ONCE…” ― it is eternal. Like Robinson Crusoe or Gagarin, or artificial snow under the Christmas tree, like a thundering old tram, like the drumming of domino stones in the backyard.
A ray of light leaves my chest and turns to a moon. It rises to the stars and suddenly there’s a shadow! It’s me. I’m so small, crossing the moonpath on a toy comet!
And this is what I’m ready to watch forever.
During August, every day we will catch a Miracle by the ear.

P.S. Such an irony: yesterday in the middle of the show the fire alarm has set off, so the audience and we too - accompanied by friendly clapping - were escorted outside. We spent a couple of relaxed minutes in the sun together with Mary Brennan.

We knew a guy we called Nesta. I don’t remember - whether it was a nickname or from a cut-down surname.
Nothing special: soft voice, always half-turned to his companion,
Always the same sweater a la mid-60’s bard,
Stout white arms.
But two things made him stand out from our bunch.
First, for example, he would ask if anyone had the book “Unhurried Pace” by Lorca, or if someone had heard the metal band “The Cheekbone” from Volgograd.
Fabrications both, one and the other, which would lie firmly memorized!
And second.
After lunch in the college canteen, we walked into the courtyard, sat on a secluded bench,
Nesta pulled up his singlet, and we could see his stomach working. On the belly were waves of digestion.
The sight was mesmerising. While we were watching it for the first time, he said - “The Ships of Liss”, forever encoding us, invoking the black and white moustache of Alexander Grin against the background of a dancing navel.

And the news: Anton Adasinsky will be holding auditions for his acting course at St. Petersburg Theatre Academy.

And even more news: DEREVO returns to Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the classic ‘ONCE…’ 4 to 29 August 2016 (except 15 & 22).

And from 22 to 28 September 2016 - ‘La Divina Commedia’ on ERARTA stage, St. Petersburg!

Mephisto Waltz – always a struggle.
I struggle with my current reluctance to shake Death’s scythe and with the drunken genius of Shalyapin.
Gustav Holst struggles with electronics by Daniel Williams.
The audience struggles with the eternal “Planets” and today’s DEREVO.

We perform in the territory of the question:
“Is this Theatre?”
“What is this?”

In the past, less time was needed to take the audience into the zone of paid lunacy.
Interesting.

My solo work “Shell” has finally happened!
I want more!

And now, with the original cast, “La Divina Commedia” in Dresden!!
Tanya, Lena, Oleg, Alexey and me.
As the saying goes – HURRY! NOT TO BE MISSED!

It’s an attempt to capture the images, dreams and visions that had an impact on our performances or simply were a pill for sadness, or a prayer to the mirror, or a scratch on Petersburg’s grey skies, or for any other reason why I’m almost there…